“1928. Ice shaving and cutting machine. He got a lot of patents. Six patents,” I said.

For some expert help, I took the patent information to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Jacob Choi, Assistant Regional Director, did a quick search and agreed to spend a few days to see if automated ice shavers existed before Bert.

“A little research on your part might yield some information that can be interesting?” I asked Choi.

“Potentially. Who knows what we might discover,” he said.

When Sam Bert died, the New York Times wrote an obituary calling him "...the man credited with inventing the snow cone ice machine." But is that true? Time for answers.

After looking into it, Choi says Bert did invent a new way to shave ice.

However, the USPTO said we should first look at the language in Bert's own patent. It says, "This invention relates to improvements in ice-shaving..." So, Bert, himself is recognizing that others came before him. And, in fact, Choi did find 7 earlier inventions for cutting ice.

I went back to Sonny to share what we learned.

“He did have a new idea, and he did have a better idea, but he didn't have the first idea,” I said.

“Not number one. Maybe number two,” Sonny said.

So, the snow cone machine was not invented at the Fair. But if there were such a thing as the Academy of Ice Shaving Arts and Sciences, we'd give Sam Bert a lifetime achievement award.